


Out of Luck

by natsume_kun



Category: Great Pretender (Anime)
Genre: But It's Nothing Overly Graphic, Canon Compliant, Canon Timeline, Comfort, Cute 'Dates'-Ish, Developing Relationship, Edamame Gets Flustered A Lot, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Light Angst, Mentions of War Violence, Post-Canon, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Relationship Study, Spoilers for Case 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:01:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27605290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/natsume_kun/pseuds/natsume_kun
Summary: “When we fell into the water after that whole air race fiasco, I think that was the first time I ever saw you smile like that-- like you were no longer trapped by gravity.” Makoto smiles, still eyeing the medal in her hand. “I want you to remember that feeling.”He turns to Abby with a soft, pleading look in his eyes.“Can you?” Makoto asks.--A series of interactions between Makoto and Abby depicting how they unexpectedly find luck and love.*fic timeline: picks up at the end of case 2/singapore sky up to post-canon
Relationships: Edamura Makoto & Abigail Jones, Edamura Makoto/Abigail Jones
Comments: 29
Kudos: 113





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i dont like how i wrote this at all but im just throwing this out here anyway for the twenty other edagail shippers out there lol

Close calls are not unfamiliar to Abigail Jones. She's been on the brink of death way too many times to count for someone in their early twenties, and she's seen death before her eyes too much for her own sanity-- some of them by her own bloodied hands. When you get caught up in a war and manage to somehow make it alive among a thousand deaths-- both of familiar faces and strangers, you could call yourself lucky.

But Abigail Jones sure doesn't.

How could she when the war had unjustly taken away her parents-- stripping her away of innocence and childhood before she could even understand what death was? The war mercilessly took from her, only leaving scars etched both on skin and deeper. Most nights, she'd rather stay awake than relive the nightmares of war in her sleep. But even her waking hours aren't always spared from those same memories. When she hears the rumbling engine of an aircraft, propeller blades violently cutting through wind, along with the sense of something falling from the sky, everything comes back to haunt her. The warmth from her parents' grasp as they each held her by the hand-- proud and loving smiles on their faces-- all gone too soon as bombs fell and panicked screams pierced the air. The last thing she sees is the look of terror on her mother's and father's faces before a screen of smoke and ashes obscures her view. And then the feeling of emptiness in her hands. Cold. Dead.

Meanwhile, she isn’t. And she hates waking up everyday to realize that because it means another day of having to get by with these scars all alone. Why is she still alive? Why couldn’t the explosion have taken her too instead? Does she even deserve to still be breathing when she, too, had bloodied her hands in the war? She knows how to shoot a man dead and knows too well that it takes more than just pulling a trigger. It takes stripping your target of humanity-- not unlike what the military forces had done when they massacred her home country so mercilessly. Sure, it all started out with fighting to avenge the death of her loved ones alongside her comrades. But continuously taking lives with your very own hands-- it's bound to fuck you up somehow. It strips you of your very own humanity as well. By the end of it all, she hates what it had done to her-- how it had left her: scarred and barely breathing-- _barely human_. The war had already taken so much from her, so why couldn’t it just have taken her last breath all together?

A stroke of luck?

Bullshit.

By now, she’s long abandoned fighting in the war, yet deliberately finds ways to put herself in danger-- the very reason she agreed to join Laurent Thierry's band of con artists in the first place. She puts herself in too many close calls and hopes every time that she wouldn’t make it out alive.

Because maybe then she could actually call herself lucky.

***

“I’m glad that you’re alive… that we both are,” Makoto says as he walks alongside Abby, their clothes still dripping wet from landing into the water.

“Maybe next time we won’t be. Too many close calls in this kind of work. You know that by now.”

Makoto briefly looks up at her before swiftly returning his gaze on the concrete.

...

“Abby, I-- uh... thanks.”

“You have nothing to thank me for.”

“No, really... I-- I don’t think I could have made that jump without you," Makoto says with a sheepish smile. "I’ve always been afraid of heights, but… because you were there with me, I just… did it. I guess a part of me believed that we’d make it because of that... even if I did say we were supposed to try dying together,” he adds, chuckling a little awkwardly.

“I didn’t choose to be with you in that shit of a situation.”

“Well, even so… I’m glad it’s you I was with...”

Makoto’s voice trails off and silence ensues between the two. For a while, there’s only distant prattling from their comrades several meters away over the scratch of footsteps against the concrete, and the calming lurch of waters as the sun sets in the horizon.

Abby soon feels the light brush of his skin against her fingers-- the contact brief and accidental. Just a mundane touch-- there's really no need to bring it up or even acknowledge it in the slightest, but Makoto does anyway. Abby senses it when he slowly looks up at her as if to check if she’s noticed.

_How annoying._

And of course, she has. But she doesn’t have to indulge him. She can just ignore it. Easy. A mundane contact that doesn’t even mean anything and yet--

Abby stops walking all of a sudden, causing Makoto to follow suit-- confused. She sighs.

“I can't believe I'm saying this but I’m…” Abby looks towards the setting sun instead, avoiding Makoto’s gaze. “...also glad that I’m alive. For the first time in years.”

So maybe it _does_ mean something.

She begins to walk again-- this time a little faster to make sure she’s a few paces ahead of him.

Makoto shuffles for something in his pockets as the other continues to walk. He examines the tiny ballerina figurine in between two fingers-- as if reflecting on whatever luck it had brought them both today. He then briefly chuckles to himself before finally taking off to catch up with Abby.


	2. Chapter 2

“You’re still up.” 

Abby feels warmth settle beside her.

“And so are you,” she says without even turning to acknowledge him.

“What’s keeping you awake?” 

“...If that’s ok for me to ask?” Makoto adds cautiously.

Abby gives him the side eye, then quickly turns her view back towards the quaint streets of Paris before them.

“Nightmare. About my parents dying… about y--” Abby shakes her head. “It’s nothing new. No need to worry about it.”

...

“And you?”

“I’m really sorry to hear that…” Makoto says, scratching his head awkwardly. “Just so you know, my offer still stands… if you want to talk more about it or something.” 

“It’s fine. Really.”

But Makoto knows that it isn’t. He takes note of Abby’s hand hanging carelessly over the balcony-- a clenched fist trembling slightly-- less from the cold and more from… something deeper. At least that’s what Makoto senses. 

“Hey, can I hold your hand for a sec?” 

“What?”

“Just really quickly, I swear,” Makoto says defensively.

Usually, she’d just tell him to fuck off or threateningly accuse of him of planning something perverted. Yet she doesn’t do any of those things this time-- because whether she likes it or not (and she tries to convince herself that she doesn't), something had definitely changed between them after that close call from their last con.

The thing is Abby never lets her guard down-- a rule of thumb she had set for herself on the battlefield. It was easy enough to build walls around yourself when you’ve been alone for most of your life-- and at such a young age too. Breaking down and through these walls-- needless to say-- was an extremely challenging task. It’s difficult to unlearn such a rule when it’s imprinted deep enough to become instinct.

And yet, she now eases herself around him.

“Whatever,” Abby says, nonchalant but not entirely bereft of warmth-- and Makoto picks up on the little that there is.

Abby doesn’t spare him a glance as he slowly takes her hand in his own, and gently begins tracing lines along her palm and closed fingers. Abby’s hand soon ceases trembling. He slowly lifts her fingers open and Abby lets him do so. Makoto finds a familiar piece of dented medal in her palm and she finally turns to look at her own hand in his.

“Abby, do you remember the feeling of floating?”

“Huh?” Abby looks at him, confused.

“When we fell into the water after that whole air race fiasco, I think that was the first time I ever saw you smile like that-- like you were no longer trapped by gravity.” Makoto smiles, still eyeing the medal in her hand. “I want you to remember that feeling.”

He turns to Abby with a soft, pleading look in his eyes.

“Can you?” Makoto asks.

Abby closes her eyes for a moment.

She recalls the fear of falling, the pressure filling in her lungs, the rush of violently tragic memories replaced by a wave of adrenaline, and plunging into the deep cold blue. A moment of breathlessness, and then the realization of being alive.

 _Maybe falling isn’t so bad,_ Abby thinks.

Makoto looks back towards the piece of dented medal.

“This… I guess something in your past’s been weighing you down heavily. I know I don’t understand much of what you’ve been through... and you don’t have to talk about it right now if you don’t want to but just… I hope this somehow makes you feel lighter.”

Abby watches him in silence.

“And by the way…” Makoto continues, taking out the tiny ballerina figurine from his pocket and placing it on her palm. “I still want you to have this... even if you may not believe in luck. Because I’m at least hoping that this would remind you of more pleasant memories-- of that time you said you were glad to be alive. And maybe…” He gently lifts her fingers to close her palm. “...that would be enough to make you believe in luck. Somehow.” 

“Hm.” Abby doesn’t give him a clear response, but Makoto guesses this is the most favorable reply he’ll get out of her for now. At least she didn’t end up throwing the toy figurine unlike the first time.

“Sorry, I guess I may have talked too much.”

Abby turns to face the view beyond the balcony once again. “You talk so much that I can barely hear my own thoughts." She sighs. "But it’s fine. Sometimes, I’d really rather not hear them at all.”

“Wait, are you saying I make a good distraction?” Makoto chuckles.

“Something like that.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *wrote this scene as an extra conversation between abby and makoto-- before they execute the plan to escape with the kids and abby, with ozaki playing along.

“I feel like… I’m starting to lose myself,” Makoto says somberly as he breathes out a puff of smoke. 

“You’re smoking again.”

Makoto sighs.

A haze of smoke obscures his view of Abby for a moment.

“Is this because of your father again?” she says, her eyes still glued to the TV screen.

“That and… something else.” He takes another drag on the cigarette. “I just… don’t know for how long I’ll have to keep working for this place. And I’m afraid that at some point, I might stop faking any of this at all.” A bitter chuckle escapes him in between the clouds of smoke. “Not to mention having to deal with my stupid father in all this is making things more difficult. I thought about what you said-- that I’m not so different from him. And I hate that it feels more true everyday… because I refuse to be anything like that bastard.”

Abby takes her eyes away from the screen to look at him briefly. 

“You could prove me wrong.”

Makoto watches the smoke unveil as he sighs dejectedly. He clicks his tongue.

He’s had enough of all this stupid father talk for now.

...

“You don’t like it when I smoke.”

“I’ve already breathed in way too much of it for a lifetime.”

“Sorry,” Makoto says emptily as he breathes out another puff of smoke. 

He soon puts out the cigarette using the dish on Abby’s table and sets it aside on the television stand. Meanwhile, Abby pauses the game to see what Makoto was up to.

He soon settles himself on the table beside the couch and lazily leans his head against Abby’s, arm resting on the side of the couch while half expecting her to shrug him off.

She doesn’t.

They stay like that silently for a while.

Abby gets a whiff of the smoke from Makoto, but doesn’t say anything-- instead only stares blankly at the game controller in her hands.

Makoto sighs, deflated.

“When I do completely lose it, would you do me a favor and--” He clicks his tongue again and laughs humorlessly. “Nevermind. You think we’re all just lone wolves in the end, anyway.”

***

_“You’re no longer trapped by gravity. Malice, envy… You can be free from everything._ That’s what you said,” Abby says, looking down at the dented medal in her hand as Makoto watches quietly. “Who you deceive or betray is totally up to you. Do what you like. Just…” She finally looks up at him. 

“...forgive yourself. That’s what saved me.” 

And that’s all it takes for Makoto to find himself again.


	4. Chapter 4

_Hi, mom. I miss you so much._

_I’m really sorry I haven’t been able to pay you a visit in so long again. You see… well, lots of even crazier things have happened._

_The craziest thing was that I finally met dad again-- although... it wasn’t exactly a heartwarming family reunion. It’s kind of complicated, but... remember when I told you about Laurent? Apparently, he’s been working with dad all along and I happened to be a part of this whole scheme._

_Honestly, it’s still so hard for me to forgive him when he left us both just like that. I mean, he could have given us even a tiny bit of explanation, but he never did. I don’t think it’s selfish for a son to hold back forgiveness for a father who wasn’t there when we both needed him most._

_I know you’ll probably say something like you still believe in dad and that you still love him after all this time but… I think I’ll need a bit longer. If that day ever comes when I do forgive him… I don’t know. You’ll probably want me to talk it out with him again. And if it’s for you, I--_

_I guess I’ll try._

_Oh, and mom. There’s... someone I’d like you to meet._

_She’s not here right now, but I’m hoping she will be the next time I visit. I told you about Abby before, right?_

_She can be really cold, harsh, and closed off most of the time, but I feel like of all the people I’ve met in all those years of conning, Abby’s the one who understands me the most..._ _surprisingly._ _It doesn’t always show, but I think it does when it matters most._

_I’d like to think she cares about me a lot more than she lets on. She’s got such a subtle way of showing it, but I kinda like it that way. There's… a charm to it, I guess._

_Like this one time, she dropped by my flat-- although it was really more like she just suddenly appeared sitting at my balcony. She talked to me and said ‘just forgive yourself'. She said it’s what saved her before... and at that time, I think it was just what I needed too._

_Abby used to say we’re all just lone wolves in the end-- not friends, not partners or anything like that. But frankly, I don’t think she would’ve gone all that way to tell me that if she didn’t care in the least bit._

_Heh. Maybe I'm getting carried away here._

_I can almost imagine you teasing me about it. You’d probably be ruffling my hair or pinching my cheeks while asking me to introduce you to this ‘lucky girl.’_

_But really, if any one of us is lucky, I’m pretty sure it’s me._


	5. Chapter 5

Abby sets the tray of food on the table before taking her seat across from Makoto. 

“Thanks, Abby,” he says with a cheery smile. 

She acknowledges his thanks with a brief glance, then turns to look out the window of the fast food, head cradled in the palm of her hand.

Makoto eyes the food excitedly-- two slices of pizza, a bowl of fries, along with two cups of medium-sized soda-- before clasping his hands together and muttering an enthusiastic _itadakimasu._ He starts to dig into the meal, while Abby silently watches the crowd of passers-by out and about on the bustling streets.

Makoto notices and lightly pushes one of the pizza slices closer to her side of the table. When Abby doesn’t appear to take notice, Makoto tilts his head curiously.

"Abby?"

"Hm."

“You know, I’ve noticed something.” He smiles.

Abby doesn’t say anything-- instead only waits for him to continue.

“You’re always doing this.”

“Doing what?”

“Treating me to your favorite places out of the blue,” Makoto says with a slight chuckle.

“Ok. And?”

“Nothing, I just-- I like it. I like that we can spend time together at places you like.”

Abby sighs.

“Fries are getting cold. Shut up and keep eating,” Abby says, taking some from the bowl and pulling the cup of soda towards her side of the table.

Makoto laughs slightly. “I’m thinking… I’d like to bring you to my favorite places too.”

“Like where?”

“We’ve flown to so many different places, but… oh remember when I said I’d take you to Japan? I mean, I know you’ve already been there for the last con, but I don’t think I really had the time to show you around and eat out. _Etto_ … you’d probably love the takoyaki in Osaka-- oh, or maybe we could go to my favorite coffee shop in Okinawa instead-- the one where I had my apprenticeship.”

“Anywhere’s fine.” Abby takes a sip of her drink while looking at Makoto from across the table.

“Yeah. Next time, then?” Makoto says excitedly.

“Next time.” There’s a slight lilt in the way she says it-- suggesting what seems like even a tiny bit of enthusiasm. That’s how Makoto interprets it anyway. He doesn’t fail to notice these little things-- slight changes in Abby’s demeanor over the years they’ve known each other.

“Abby?”

“Yeah?”

Makoto smiles as he turns to the window, catching Abby’s eyes in the reflection. 

A silent exchange.

...

" _Etto_..."

“ _...Daisuki da yo,_ ” Makoto mumbles shyly, his cheeks swarming with red.

Abby abruptly turns to face him instead, head tilted questioningly.

“...What? What the fuck did you just say?”

Makoto laughs nervously. “Hey-- I swear it’s nothing bad. It’s just--”

Abby furrows her eyebrows, almost irritated.

“--how I feel about you,” Makoto continues.

Abby continues to stare silently-- the look in her eyes eventually softening into something more gentle.

“And what does that--” She cuts herself off, shaking her head. Abby shifts her attention towards her drink instead-- taking a long sip as she turns to silently watch the view outside instead. A pair of lovers passes by the front of the window at that moment, and Abby’s gaze drifts towards their hands lovingly clasped together.

“Abby? Do you… want me to translate?” Makoto asks sheepishly.

Abby thinks for a moment.

“...No.” She eventually shakes her head. “Save it for when you’re teaching me phrases when we go on that next trip.”

Abby doesn’t look him in the eye for the rest of their time together that day, and it bothers Makoto more than it should. He wonders if it was the thing he said. Maybe Abby somehow understood _what he meant_. After all, the words may not have been familiar to her, but perhaps the meanings and the feelings were.


	6. Chapter 6

“Wait wait wait,” Makoto says, pulling Abby with him back to the facade of the store they just passed by. 

“What the hell is it?”

“This will be really quick. Wait here,” Makoto says hurriedly as he enters the store.

Abby clicks her tongue. She stands beside what looks like a claw machine outside the store while waiting for Makoto. Not even a minute later, Makoto emerges from the store, holding a few coins in his hand. 

He excitedly gestures for Abby to stand closer and points at the claw machine before them.

“So which one do you want?” Makoto asks, inching his face closer to the glass-- admiring in awe at the pile of colorful animal plushies inside the machine.

“It’s fine, Edamame. You don’t have to get me anything.”

Makoto pulls her by the hand and shows her the coins he’s holding. “Awww, come on, Abby.” Makoto whines. “They’re all so cute. I already got some tokens too!”

Abby sighs and takes a closer look inside of the glass box. Her eyes are immediately drawn to a tiny purple cat with a yellow tutu sitting atop the right side of the pile.

“Fine. That one, I guess,” she says impassively, pointing at the cat.

“Got it,” Makoto says, already inserting a token into the machine. It lights up as it starts to play one of those shabby instrumental versions of nursery rhymes. He grips the controller and ambitiously begins to move the claw towards the right side of the pile. 

Once the claw finally hangs directly above the purple cat plushie, Makoto quickly pushes the ‘grab’ button on the machine. Makoto watches closely as the claw lowers to grab the cat, only to loosen its grip on the plush way too early.

Makoto swears under his breath as the machine switches to a different sound effect and displays in bright red laser letters the words “YOU LOSE” on the board in front of the glass. “What the hell? I almost got it.”

Abby sighs. “You do know these things are rigged, right?”

“What? They are?! I thought they were just insanely difficult.”

“Isn’t that the same thing? It’s difficult because they’re programmed to make you lose.”

“I mean… it still has to be possible somehow, right? I’ll try again.”

Makoto inserts another token into the slot and moves the claw towards the cat plushie once again. He manages to grab the cat again, only for the claw to drop it midway towards the prize slot.

“ _Kuso_ … you've got to be kidding me,” Makoto says annoyed, punching the controller panel. Meanwhile, Abby snorts trying to hold back her laughter.

\--

Two more unsuccessful attempts later, Makoto finally kicks the machine with his shoe as he continues to swear at it. 

"Fuck this stupid machine."

Frustrated, Abby finally takes the last token in his hand and inserts it into the slot. She aggressively grips the controller and moves the claw to grab the cat plush. Makoto watches intently as the claw picks it up and carries it smoothly towards the prize slot. 

“What the--?!” Makoto says as they both turn to gape at each other in shock.

The machine switches to a victorious sound effect and displays the words “YOU WIN” on the board above as Abby finally takes the purple cat plushie from the prize slot.

“Seriously?! How did you do that?” Makoto asks in amazement.

Abby eyes the tiny purple cat in her hands with curiosity. 

She briefly looks up at Makoto and then back at the cat as if she were mulling over something. Makoto tilts his head, curiously staring at her.

...

And then she shoves the plush into his face.

“Hey, what the hell?!” Makoto says, his voice muffled. He grabs the stuffed toy to get it out of his face.

“It’s yours,” Abby says.

“Wait, what? But I was supposed to get you one…” Makoto says dejectedly as he hurriedly checks his pockets. “...Shit, that really was my last token.”

“Let’s get going, loser,” Abby says as she begins to walk away from the store, pulling Makoto along with her. “Looks like you’re out of luck.”


	7. Chapter 7

“Hey, I know you just dropped by for Yoshi-chan, but would you mind… staying awhile?” Makoto asks timidly, staring nervously into his coffee mug.

“For how long?” Abby asks as she continues to play with the cat lying restlessly on Makoto’s futon.

“Oh, uh… up to you really,” Makoto scratches his head awkwardly. "I don’t know, maybe half an hour… if-- if you’re not too busy... and only if that’s ok with you, of course.”

It’s quiet for a while aside from the playful rattling of bells from Yoshi’s collar.

“I can stay longer,” Abby finally replies.

“Really?! I-- I mean… that’s great,” Makoto says a little too quickly.

“Longer than today.” Abby looks up at him as she gingerly pets the cat. “Or maybe even longer than that.” 

He suddenly feels warmth rising in his cheeks, so he abruptly looks down into his coffee mug instead. God, he hates how he can already feel his palms sweating nervously.

“Thanks. I-- I’d really like that. Though… I honestly didn’t expect you would…” Makoto chuckles nervously. “So are you staying for me or for Mr. Hideyoshi right here?”

Abby thinks quietly for a few seconds as she picks up the cat from the futon. “Both. But I like Yoshi more,” Abby says, playfully holding Yoshi up in the air. Makoto notices the slight upturn on the corner of her lips.

“Fair enough,” Makoto laughs.

***

  
  
_“Daisuki.”_

Abby looks at him for a moment, then shifts her gaze down towards her feet. She doesn’t say anything, and Makoto’s not so sure what to make of that. 

He nervously adjusts the straw from the coffee cup he’s holding.

“It… It means I like you,” Makoto says, quickly stealing a glance at her as they continue walking.

“I know. I’ve known what it means for a while.”

“W-wait, what?! Then why didn’t you say anything?”

“Why? Do I have to?” she asks, taking the drink from him.

“Well, I mean… not really, but I’d really like it if you told me how you feel about me too…” Makoto says with a pout.

“Is that a request?”

“Yes-- I mean-- no… wait wh-- uh, kind of?”

“How I feel, hm…” Abby pauses. 

"..."

“You’re alright, Makoto.” There's a hint of mockery in the monotonous way she says it.

Makoto steals quick glances at her as if waiting for something more.

“Wait… Is that it?!”

Abby nods as she takes a sip of the coffee.

“Fine, fine…” Makoto takes the drink from her and starts sipping aggressively.

“You know, that’s the most we’ve ever kissed,” Abby remarks nonchalantly.

Makoto chokes on his drink. “W-what?! Why are you even bringing that up now?!”  
  
“No reason. I just realized.”

“O-ok?” Makoto tries to keep his composure, but not even the ice from his coffee could keep away the warmth now swarming all over his face.

Abby suddenly grabs the drink from him.

“Hey, wait, I’m still--” 

Abby cuts him off. “Do you want to kiss for real?”

It catches Makoto so off guard that he almost trips as his footsteps come to a halt so abruptly. Makoto swallows nervously as his eyes widen in shock, trying to think of how to respond intelligibly.

“Yes…” he says dumbly. “...I-- wait, really?!”

“Really, you fucking virgin.”

“So… uh, can I-- do you mean now?” Makoto asks sheepishly.

“If you want to,” she sighs. Abby finishes off the rest of the drink and throws the cup into a nearby trash bin.

“Ok, uh-- let me just…” 

Makoto pulls Abby aside, leading her behind a row of vending machines. He cautiously looks around to check for any signs of people nearby.

“Ok, I think we’re clear?” Makoto says quietly.

“This is so stupid. You really want to kiss behind these things?” Abby snorts, holding back a chuckle.

“Well, you're not exactly the most romantic person either so…”

“Shut up and just get on with it,” Abby says, rolling her eyes.

"Ok, ok," he says with a soft chuckle.

 _Here goes_.

...

Makoto nervously takes a deep breath. 

He slowly leans closer and gingerly touches the tips of his fingers against Abby’s cheek. She closes her eyes as Makoto begins to trace circles with his thumb against her skin. He shuts his eyes as he moves ever closer until he feels warm breath tickle his lips. Makoto briefly ghosts a finger against Abby’s lips before finally pressing his own onto them. 

In that moment, Makoto remembers the feeling of falling and floating.

He recalls the fear of falling, the pressure filling in his lungs, the rush of adrenaline, and plunging into deep cold blue. A moment of breathlessness, and then the realization of being alive.

When Makoto opens his eyes, Abby greets him with a warm smile. Makoto finds comfort in its familiarity-- the way it reminds him of the same smile she had when they both fell into the water all those years ago. 

But Makoto is suddenly brought out of his daze when Abby's expression turns into something… more mischievous. All of a sudden, she escapes his grasp. 

She takes off, already running swiftly along the sidewalk.

 _“Chotto matte!"_ Makoto shouts as he makes the chase.

Abby continues to run, but eventually pauses to wait for Makoto to catch up. 

As he gets closer, Makoto notices Abby holding a very familiar object in her hand.

He gapes upon recognizing it. Is that--?!

“That’s my fucking wallet!”

Abby laughs heartily as he finally realizes her con.

Makoto aggressively tries to swipe it from her when he finally gets close, but Abby quickly stretches her arm farther from his reach.

“Pathetic,” she sighs, tugging at Makoto’s collar to pull him closer as she slips the wallet back into his pocket instead.

“Don’t let your guard down this time, dumbass,” Abby says unto his lips with a slight chuckle.

“Fine, I-- I’ll try," Makoto laughs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *i named edamame's cat 'yoshi' which is taken from toyotomi hideyoshi's name (豐臣 秀吉). there are various kanji for 'yoshi' but i'd like to think edamame would write it as '吉' which means good luck. interestingly, the other kanji characters for 'yoshi' also seem fitting considering edamame's personality: '義' = righteous; '良' = good, virtuous, respectable
> 
> ***i know this is a rarepair so just in case anyone else is desperately interested in more edagail content, i've also made other stuff for this ship here:  
> [fan art](https://twitter.com/pieleth_/status/1350784977718317061?s=20)  
> [amv](https://youtu.be/rEZNg-Z01dA)  
> [playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6Qgi6cByXT3Fj9PLJNMlHe?si=c-teMXhXSA2Iw7hT_jPUDQ)
> 
> \--
> 
> lastly, thank you for reading and i really appreciate it when you leave kudos and comments!!


End file.
